How is it that Conor quit so easily against Nate the first time but showed heart in the second fight

Discharge Stephens

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In general, it seems that certain fighters have an uncanny will to win and ability to handle adversity, and usually all of the champions have an amazing amount of heart. Both Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier, for instance, showed the heart of champions in their respective fights with Alexander Gustafsson. Yet, with Conor McGregor, his first fight with Nate Diaz saw him quit the instant he dealt with adversity. It was a shocking to see an elite fighter basically want out immediately. What changed with the second fight? Usually this trait isn't something learned; you either have it or you don't.
 
Conor is a master at making adjustments and learning from his mistakes. How many rematches have we seen where the exact same thing happens?
 
Because they were totally different fights?

The first fight he thought he was going to KO Nate easily and went all out at the start. He was completely gassed and then took a big shot and knew he was done and wanted out of the fight.

He spent most of the 2nd fight conserving his energy and evading to go 5 rounds and didn't really get hit with any big shots.
 
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Conor is a master at making adjustments and learning from his mistakes. How many rematches have we seen where the exact same thing happens?

Well, I mean, he still did gas in the 2nd round. He just found a second wind. Usually if someone is quick to quit, they aren't going to overcome adversity.
 
WTF??? Are you serious???

Just watch him run...

 
have you ever been in a fight or got your bell rung really really bad? it's a crap feeling. conor got rocked really hard in that first fight and turned into a panic wrestler. to say he "quit" is silly. he got clocked and choked out.
 
For all the shit Connor gets for his antics, rounds 4 and 5 were the moments that gained him all my respect forever.

Nate was starting to take over and i thought we were going to get a repeat of the last fight. But Connor showed true heart, came back and won. Was rooting for Nate, too.

And absolutely you can learn heart. That's what beat downs teach us. Shit, think about your own life. Some of my biggest failures in life made me a much stronger person, physically and mentally. No man is born a true warrior, we have to get fucked up and keep going.

There's some Fedor quote that would apply here about getting up but i can't remember.
 
He didnt "quit easily" in the first fight. He gassed. It wasn't like he was standing on the stool in his corner while his cornermen asked him if he wanted to continue and simply chose not too.
 
He didn't quit

He made a mistake after getting hurt
It can happen when you are unprepared

Going for that td was a bad move
And it cost him
 
For all the shit Connor gets for his antics, rounds 4 and 5 were the moments that gained him all my respect forever.

Nate was starting to take over and i thought we were going to get a repeat of the last fight. But Connor showed true heart, came back and won. Was rooting for Nate, too.

And absolutely you can learn heart. That's what beat downs teach us. Shit, think about your own life. Some of my biggest failures in life made me a much stronger person, physically and mentally. No man is born a true warrior, we have to get fucked up and keep going.

There's some Fedor quote that would apply here about getting up but i can't remember.

"I am Fedor, not human. Human take randleplex and die. Fedor take randleplex and win by Kimura"

I believe that's the quote you're looking for
 
As he said in the postfight interview, he admitted that his gas tanked emptied and he went panic mode, whereas Nate went on auto-pilot mode. He knew he had nothing in the tank left, and there was no point in pulling an Artem Lobov for the rest of the fight.
 
have you ever been in a fight or got your bell rung really really bad? it's a crap feeling. conor got rocked really hard in that first fight and turned into a panic wrestler. to say he "quit" is silly. he got clocked and choked out.

Yes. I would do the same thing Conor did in the Nate fight, ensure minimal damage by giving up my neck. But I'm not a trained professional fighter. It was surprising to see an elite pro do what an average Joe would do. Usually champions show a lot of heart.
 
For all the shit Connor gets for his antics, rounds 4 and 5 were the moments that gained him all my respect forever.

Nate was starting to take over and i thought we were going to get a repeat of the last fight. But Connor showed true heart, came back and won. Was rooting for Nate, too.

And absolutely you can learn heart. That's what beat downs teach us. Shit, think about your own life. Some of my biggest failures in life made me a much stronger person, physically and mentally. No man is born a true warrior, we have to get fucked up and keep going.

There's some Fedor quote that would apply here about getting up but i can't remember.

"The one who doesn't fall, doesnt stands up".

 
He didn't quit

He made a mistake after getting hurt
It can happen when you are unprepared

Going for that td was a bad move
And it cost him

I guess I interpreted his actions as wanting to avoid any punishment, so he shot the crappy takedown to get submitted rather than TKO/KO'd.
 
It's really not a matter if quitting, if you've never experienced exhaustuon on that scale it might be hard to understand.

If you take a guy who is rocked and struggling to breath and choke him, survival instincts take over, he was completely done, his body was shutting down.

2nd time round he prepared physically and mentally for that type of adversity, it's a cliche, but he's now twice the fighter he was before that fight due to the lessons he learned.
 
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